1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to vibrating rollers and more particularly, but not by way of limitation, to a vibrating roller having first and second partial roller barrels driven through a differential, said differential including a driving member and first and second driven members coupled to said first and second partial roller barrels, respectively.
2. Description of the Prior Art
German Patent specification laid open No. 1,459,681 discloses a vibrating roller wherein the roller barrel is subdivided into two partial roller barrels. Both partial roller barrels are mounted on a driving shaft, which is formed as a hollow shaft. A differential gear assembly is provided between the inner barrel bottoms of the two partial roller barrels. This differential gear assembly comprises a driving disk rigidly connected to the driving shaft and serving as a driving member. Compensating gears in the form of bevel gears are mounted on the driving disk for rotation about radial axes.
The compensating beveled gears mesh with first and second beveled ring gears which are connected to the barrel bottoms of the first and second partial roller barrels, respectively. The first and second beveled ring gears form the driven members of the differential gear assembly. An unbalanced body is rotatably mounted within the hollow shaft and is driven by an internal combustion engine through a chain or belt transmission.
The driving shaft of the vibrating roller of German Patent specification laid open No. 1,459,681 carries a gear which is driven by a hydraulic motor through a driving pinion gear. Steering of the vibrating roller is achieved by optionally braking one or the other of said partial roller barrels by means of a braking device.
The vibrating roller of German Patent specification laid open No. 1,459,681 suffers from a disadvantage. The vibratory motion created by the rotating unbalanced body is transmitted not only to the first and second partial roller barrels where it is needed, but also to the differential gear assembly and the hydraulic motor. This results in undesirable stress on all the components of the vibrating roller, and also increases the mass which must be vibrated by the rotating unbalanced body.
British Pat. No. 1,224,652 discloses a vibrating roller wherein a disk is rotatably mounted on the roller frame and is driven through a ring provided with internal teeth. The ring is driven by a pinion drive gear which itself is drivingly connected to a drive motor. The disk is connected to one barrel bottom of a single roller barrel through resilient force transmitting members in the form of rubber bodies or a rubber ring. The barrel bottoms of the roller barrel are mounted on a tubular axle. A solid axle is attached on one side to the roller frame and extends through the tubular axle. The tubular and solid axles have radial flanges at their ends remote from the driving side, said flanges being interconnected through rubber bodies. A vibration generator is provided on the tubular axle.
With the construction of British Pat. No. 1,224,652, the roller barrel is driven by the disk through the resilient force transmitting members. These resilient force transmitting members between the disk and the barrel bottom, and the rubber bodies between the flanges of the hollow shaft and of the solid shaft, permit vibratory motion of the roller barrel which motion is initiated by the vibration generator connected to the hollow shaft. The driving transmission members such as the drive motor, the driving pinion and the internal toothed ring gear are not, however, subjected to this vibratory motion, as those components are insulated from the hollow shaft by the resilient force transmitting members and the rubber bodies between the flanges.